Corruption Currents: KPMG, McKinsey Sucked Into South Africa Scandal

The KPMG logo is seen at the company's head offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday.
Photo:
Reuters

A daily roundup of corruption news from across the Web. We also provide a daily roundup of important risk & compliance stories via our daily newsletter, The Morning Risk Report, which readers can sign up for here. Follow us on Twitter at @WSJRisk.

Bribery:

South African President Jacob Zuma’s lawyers conceded in a court hearing a decision by prosecutors to drop bribery and corruption charges against him in 2009 was irrational. They appear to have abandoned the fight against reinstatement of the charges. The central bank accused prosecutors of bias. (Bloomberg, AFP, Bloomberg)

A retired U.S. Navy commander was jailed for his role in the Leonard "Fat Leonard" Francis bribery scandal. (Law360, AP)

More than one-third of U.K. companies fail to carry out anti-bribery due diligence. (CityAM)

Cybercrime:

The U.S. is "incredibly lucky" to have avoided a cyber calamity. An expert said companies didn't cooperate during the WannaCry and notPetya attacks. (McClatchy, CyberScoop)

Money Laundering:

Israeli police ordered three branches of Bank Leumi to hand over documents relating to allegations it helped Americans evade taxes. The bank didn't appear to be contacted. (Haaretz)

Anti-corruption activists in India have died or been hurt in the pursuit of leaked information. (WaPo)

General Anti-Corruption:

KPMG LLP said the head of its South African office and seven other senior executives quit after an internal investigation found work done for the politically connected Gupta family fell “considerably short” of the auditing firm’s standards. McKinsey was also targeted by activist groups; it's investigating and denied wrongdoing. The investigation continues, and the U.S. and U.K. may step in. (Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Reuters, Fin24, BuinessTech)

The Pentagon used a contractor with links to corruption to bringweapons to rebels in Syria. The contractor declined to comment. (OCCRP, OCCRP, OCCRP)

A top U.S. Justice Department official said the agency is reviewing how it prosecutes corporate-crime cases. (Reuters, Politico)

FIFA is still resistant to change and is struggling to implement reform, a former top official said. The president faces a new ethics complaint; FIFA declined to comment. (Reuters, NYT)

Parliament action: Guatemalan lawmakers said they would withdraw reforms it passed earlier this week that would have granted immunity from prosecution on campaign-finance violations. Tunisian lawmakers approved a controversial bill granting amnesty to officials accused of corruption. (TeleSUR, Reuters, WSJ, Reuters)

PEPWatch: Pakistan's ousted premier and his children were summoned for questioning on more corruption allegations; they've previously denied wrongdoing. Myanmar denied bail to officials on trial for corruption. (PTI, Myanmar Times)